I dissent--I really don't care about these people on this level, and frankly, I don't like them. Wulf concludes with a kind of, sort of critique of thI dissent--I really don't care about these people on this level, and frankly, I don't like them. Wulf concludes with a kind of, sort of critique of the Jena romantics, but basically it's all adulation, and the more individualistic and 2022 they are, the more adulation they get. You want polyamory? You're great. You want to hang out with your wife, and your wife to hang out with you? You're not. Yawn.
There's not enough on the ideas and art to really make the case the book is trying to make, and there's far too much he-said, she-said. I don't understand why people say Wulf 'brings history to life,' perhaps because I don't need it brought to life in this way.
Perhaps the best analogy here is Hamilton, the musical: sure, you can cherry pick facts about someone to make them seem relevant and interesting, and that will be a fun story, but ultimately, there's a lot more going on than Wulf chooses to show us. And if you want history to be brought alive, might I recommend Penelope Fitzgerald's 'Blue Flower,' instead? ...more
If you go to literature because you want something relevant or relatable, I offer you... a 1903 Henry James novella? Odd, but also perfect. If you're If you go to literature because you want something relevant or relatable, I offer you... a 1903 Henry James novella? Odd, but also perfect. If you're worried about social media, and media bubbles, and the vacuousness of 21st century life, fear not, because Henry got there over a hundred years before us. I'm actually being serious. This is begging to be made into a Netflix movie. ...more
I feared for a second that this would end up being another liberal's wet-dream of Soviet satire, in which the Great Evil is pilloried by the upstandinI feared for a second that this would end up being another liberal's wet-dream of Soviet satire, in which the Great Evil is pilloried by the upstanding individual etc etc... But no! It's much, much more, and everyone comes out looking like a jackass. Nikolai is very much in the tradition of Dostoevsky's underground man, whom you might identify as a romantic hero rebelling against the evils of his society etc., but who is actually, at best, a symptom of that society and, at worst, more or less a prick. But that's much clearer in 'Envy,' particularly the second half.
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